Canada’s Special Sesquicentennial Prefixes

In celebration of Canada's 150th Birthday in 2017, the Yukon Canam Contest Club, VY1AAA, will be active using the special call XK150YUKON, from 1st January - 1st March 2017 

For the remainder of the year, the club will be active as either CI1AAA or VY1AAA. QSLs via KC1CWF and always confirmed on LOTW.

All Canadian Radio Amateurs can use special call sign prefixes, CF, CG, CH or CI to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada's Confederation.

Full Special Event Details - http://wp.rac.ca/special-event-canada150/

XK150YUKON - http://wp.rac.ca/xk150yukon-ci1aaa-vy1aaa-yukon/

Germany Access 60m

Amateur / Ham Radio operators in German have gained access to the 60m band using the frequency range 5351.50 - 5366.5 kHz.

Amateurs wishing to operate in this band require a class A licence, and of course not to cause any interference to other stations or services.

Google translation of 2033/5000  Communication No 1699/2016 

Amateur radio service; Use of the frequency range 5351.5 - 5366.5 kHz

The World Radio Conference 2015 of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has approved a secondary allocation in the frequency range 5351.5 - 5366.5 kHz for the amateur radio service. (AFuV), which allows the use of the above-mentioned frequency range within the meaning of Section 5 (3) of the Amateurfunnengesetz (AFuG) and Article 9 (2) of the AFUV in the medium term , The use of the frequency range 5351.5 - 5366.5 kHz in the amateur slot shall be tolerated immediately with the consent of the Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure (BMVI) and the Federal Ministry of Defense (BMVg). The tolerated uses must comply with the following usage regulations. With the entry into force of the AFUV's adaptation to the above decision of the 2015 World Radiocommunication Conference, this regulation becomes devoid of purpose.
Terms of use

1. The use of the frequency range 5351.5 - 5366.5 kHz may only be carried out by the holder of an authorization to participate in the class A Amateur radio service. In this case, no interferences at radio stations of another radio service may be caused and there is no protection from interference by radio stations of other radio services.
2. The maximum effective radiated power shall not exceed 15 watts EIRP.
3. The maximum allowed bandwidth of a transmission must not exceed 2.7 kHz.
4. When using the frequency range 5351.5 - 5366.5 kHz, all other provisions of the AFuG and AFuV must be complied with.

It is important to use this regulation sensitively, to avoid disturbances and to use the maximum power only when it is considered essential to maintain a radio connection or for experimental purposes.    

RSGB Yearbook 2017 Error

Each year Ofcom, on request, provides callsign information to the RSGB for the Yearbook. This year a small minority of users’ main station addresses were provided to the RSGB instead of their mailing addresses. As a result, this has been published in the RSGB Yearbook 2017. Only radio amateurs who have given consent to have their personal details published in the Yearbook would have been affected.

Ofcom takes the management of people’s information very seriously and has apologised directly to those concerned for this mistake. Ofcom has assured us that the cause of the problem has been identified and fixed so that it cannot happen again. Ofcom has asked the RSGB to destroy all the unsold copies of the RSGB Yearbook 2017 and replace those that have already been issued with a corrected edition. Costs for this are being met by Ofcom.